Beneath It All
by YourPinkDiary
Summary: Despite everything Burt Hummel can't forget that he's loved Blaine as if he were his own son. A post The Break Up fic, so, spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.


**A/N: **I just needed to write this scene, this way, because I haven't seen anyone else do it yet and I needed something like this really badly after the episode.

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Burt Hummel was seeing red. Only minutes ago he'd hung up from a phone call from his son. His distraught, broken hearted son. And there was nothing he could but pace back and forth in the kitchen and Kurt choked out that Blaine had surprised visited him in New York, with the information that he'd been with someone else.

And Burt was furious. He didn't think he would ever be so mad at Blaine. Blaine who was such a sweet, polite kid. Blaine who... who he thought loved his son to the ends of the earth.

Apparently he was wrong. Kurt was wrong. They'd all been wrong about Blaine.

Burt wanted nothing more than to drop everything and fly to New York so he could wrap his son up in his arms and tell him he would be ok. That he would get through. That he was a Hummel, and Hummel's were strong. And he'd survive a heartbreak. He would. But he wasn't able to do that. He couldn't just drop everything and go to New York.

Two days passed. Finn came home. Apparently he and Rachel had broken up. She'd cheated on him with some NYADA guy.

What was with all the unfaithfulness?

It was a Saturday afternoon and there was a knock on the door.

Burt was more than surprised to see Blaine Anderson standing at his front door. He was moments away from slamming the door shut again, when he actually took note of how the boy was standing. Blaine was huddled up into himself, shoulders hunched, arms wrapped across his body, head bowed to the ground. If Burt didn't know any better he would say it looked like Blaine was literally trying to hold himself together.

'You've got two minutes to talk.' he said gruffly. He hadn't forgotten. This was the boy who broke his son's heart. This was the boy he needed to hate. Because he didn't like anyone who messed with Kurt's heart the way Blaine had.

'I'm sorry.' Blaine choked out, not daring to look up. 'I'm so, so, sorry.'

'So you should be.'

'Kurt won't talk to me. No one listens. I... I'm sorry.' he slowly raised his head, meeting Burt's eyes. 'I can't... I... I hate myself. I hate what I did. I hate...'

Burt felt his heart soften a little. Because with Blaine standing in front of him he _saw_it. He saw a lost, broken, hurting, self-loathing teenage boy. The same boy he had loved as though he were his own son. And he was torn. This Blaine in front of him hurt his son worse than anyone else ever had. More than any of bullies, more than NYADA... He needed to hate him. For Kurt's sake, Burt needed to hate Blaine.

But Blaine was looking so lost. So broken. That it was Burt's instinct to wrap Blaine up in his arms until he knew things would be ok.

He didn't.

Instead he opened to door a little wider.

'Why don't you come in for a while?'

Blaine's faced morphed into shock and he shook his head. 'No... no I just came by to... I know what I did and I know that,' he took a deep breath to steady himself. 'I know that by betraying Kurt like I did, I betrayed you and I owed you an apology.'

'Blaine, don't make me tell you twice. Come inside. I'll get Carole to make you some hot chocolate and we can sit down and have a little chat, ok?'

Blaine nodded and stepped into the house, knowing better than to resist.

He followed Burt into the kitchen, where Carole was cooking dinner. She didn't hide her shock at seeing Blaine very well. But didn't say anything as she immediately started to get some hot chocolate ready, before Burt could even ask her to.

'So, Blaine,' Burt sat the mug down in front of the boy. 'It was brave of you to come by.'

'I had to.' Blaine said in a voice barely above a whisper.

'You have to understand I can't accept your apology until Kurt does.'

'I don't deserve for Kurt to do that. I deserve to have him hate me forever.' Blaine didn't look at either of the parents in the room. Instead he stared at the floral mug before him.

'Sweetie, what do you mean by that?' Carole asked.

Blaine shrugged. 'Kurt is the greatest person in the world. And I did something horrible to him. I don't deserve to be forgiven. By anyone.'

'Blaine Anderson, look at me right now.'

Slowly Blaine looked up at Burt.

'Answer me this. Why would you do it?'

Blaine started to shrug. Then his face crumpled and he dissolved into tears.

'I don't know. I don't know why I did it. I haven't slept properly since because I keep asking myself that. I was just alone, and no one cared. No one gave a damn enough about me to just to just let me talk for five minutes. There was no one who cared and I just wanted... I guess to... I just wanted to not be invisible anymore. And I hate what I did. I can't... I can't express how much I hate myself. It's suffocating. No one gets that no matter what they say about me, the things I'm thinking are a hundred times worse.'

Burt and Carole exchanged a look, before Carole moved around to where Blaine was sitting and wrapped her arms around him. Blaine clung to her instantly, burying his head in her shoulder and just sobbing. Burt sat there with no clue as to what he was supposed to do. He wanted to hate Blaine. But he was starting to get the feeling that Blaine hated himself enough already. As much as Blaine had hurt his son... the boy had become to be like almost another son to Burt, and that side of Burt right now was wanting to protect Blaine.

'Sshh, sweetie, it's ok,' Carole whispered soothingly. 'It's ok.'

'No, it's not ok.' Blaine sobbed. 'What I did is not ok.'

Twenty minutes passed and Blaine's sobs finally ceased. He let go of Carole and wiped at his red, wet face furiously, muttering apologies under his breath.

'Take yourself to the bathroom and freshen up honey.' Carole said.

Blaine nodded and got up. Once he was out of the room Carole turned to Burt.

'I'm really worried about him.' she said. 'That's not normal.'

Burt nodded. 'Me too. I'll tell you, I was ready to slam the door in his face but he just looked so...' he couldn't find the words, but Carole understood what he meant.

'You may not like this suggestion, but I think we need to take care of him. I don't think he has anyone else right now.'

'Kurt won't be happy.' Burt sighed. 'But you're right. I'm worried about him.'

'If Kurt loves Blaine as much as I know he does he'll understand… eventually anyway.'

'I hope you're right about that.'

When Blaine returned from the bathroom the kitchen table was set with four places. His eyes were still red, but he looked a little fresher.

'I um, I think that I should probably go now.' he said, standing awkwardly in the kitchen entrance.

'No, you won't be going anywhere until you sit down and eat a proper meal.' Burt said gruffly.

'What?'

'We've got plenty of food and you're going to join us.'

'Thank you, but I really can't.'

'Oh this isn't up for debate son.' Burt said. 'Now, I'm not forgiving you just yet. That isn't what this is, and that is something that I have to leave up to Kurt. But I do want you to be coming over once a week for dinner, that's not up for negotiation. Got it?'

'Uh, yes. Yes sir.'

'Good. Now please, take a seat.'

Blaine didn't need to be told twice. He took a seat at the table. When Finn came down to join them he was confused, but a quick look from Carole told him to not say anything and to act like everything was normal.

For the next few weeks Blaine did as Burt had requested and came by every Wednesday night for dinner. It was nice. Sometimes things were stiff and awkward, because Blaine really wanted to ask how Kurt was doing… but he couldn't. Kurt was never brought up on his visits. Never once.

Then one week Kurt came home for a visit.


End file.
